Classical and Modern: A Battle of Musics

Chapters

How It All Begun
The Spirit and Little Girl Shines
A Curious Mystery
A Piano in Tune

How It All Begun

How It All Begun

Two weeks before the Battle of the Bands

Canterlot High School had another event went into disarray with magic involved yet again. Even after that though, everything went to normal as school life continued on without a sign of trouble. The energy in the school and students was still going strong with conversation and many things keeping them busy for a long time. During the middle of a class break, Sunset and the others joined in the cafeteria to have a little conversation. Rainbow decided to start the conversation off, “Welp, I’m beat… after three crazy events went even crazier with magic being the center of them all. I’m starting to wonder if we can have an event that isn’t crazy for once…”

“Rainbow, you said crazy about three times darling.” Rarity wasn’t so sure why, but she had to point it out. Maybe it as to relieve some boredom but at least she continued the conversation.

The athlete just shrugged as she pondered about many possible events, “I know, but you get the point right?” The fashionista nodded as she went to eat her lunch. All of them wondered if they can have one event that isn’t so… dramatic for lack of a better word by all them.

As they ate their lunch while pondering about it, Pinkie appeared without any one of them noticing her appearance, “Hey there! Did I miss something? Oh I don’t like to miss out on a conversation here! Tell me what I missed!” She exclaimed out loud on a microphone at the last sentence. Many looked at her covering their ears when she said that. They enjoyed her antics but that came rather suddenly. Pinkie putted away her giant megaphone into her pocket somehow and apologized quickly, “Sorry! That was for my friends!” Many just shrugged and went back into eating. Her friends on the other hand, as they were nearby her, were having the worse of the effects as their ears were ringing from the loud volume of her megaphone.

Sunset was walking with Twilight to the cafeteria when the loud sentence was made. They were far enough to not suffer the effects of a ringing ear but they knew well enough who did that come from. When they entered the cafeteria and found their friends trying to recover their hearing, they can tell that they were having a case of said ringing ears.

While Sunset could only chuckle, Twilight wondered how loud Pinkie got to give those five ringing ears. If they heard it from rather far away, it was enough to clue her in that she had to have a megaphone loud enough to probably be heard from halfway across the city, if it can get that loud that is. They walked to their table bored like them, “Hey girls… How goes the day for all of you?”

They all literally said what together when they heard her question. Many picked their ears trying to get rid of the buzzing sound. Fluttershy however was the first to recover from it, “Oh Pinkie, next time, could you keep the megaphone you have on minimal volume please?”

She said that rather quietly but was heard by the energetic human, “Oki doki loki! So does anyone have a way to make this day great? Cause I’m bored…” All six looked at her like they were hearing something they shouldn’t be hearing from her. Her three friends were able to recover from the buzzing slowly, it’s still there for them but it was beginning to fade. Pinkie was looking at each one of them, “What? Just because I’m all hyper and trying to make fun every day, doesn’t mean I’m not immune to being bored…”

They all let out a sigh when she made that sentence, “Eeyup, yer still Pinkie alright…” She let one of her signature smiles and it pretty confirmed that for the apple farmer, “But Ah agrees with one thing, if Pinkie o’ all people is bored, then we need t’ find a way t’ liven up today.”

They all nodded and tried to think of anything that may help at least alleviate the boredom. Six of them managed to come up with a lot of suggestions to have some level of fun but most of them were denied due to reasons given by any of them. In the end, they exhausted all their options and looked towards Fluttershy. She noticed and shrunk back a bit seeing everyone was looking at her, “Um… why are all of you looking at me like that?”

“Well, you are the only one who hasn’t suggested anything in mind darling. We’re just wondering if you have one for all of us…” Fluttershy made a quiet oh sound as she looked at each one of them. They were looking towards her to think of something to alleviate their bored status. She couldn’t but shrink back a bit from all the attention.

They noticed and backed away a bit giving her some space to think, “Thanks but I honestly can’t think of anything to well… make this anymore excitable.” They all sighed not surprised about this. They did not mind though as it was expected from her that she doesn’t have anything relatively exciting in her job description or her quiet life. It only made them smile to know that they would share in each other’s boredom. However, “But…” that word managed to break them out of their reverie as they looked at Fluttershy, “I do have some news in mind… but I think it might put a damper in our thoughts… I didn’t want to change the boredom into melancholy.”

Sunset waved a dismissive hand (though Rarity was about to do that said gesture, she was not pleased at Sunset for beating her to it) towards Fluttershy, “No worries Fluttershy, I think anything that can keep us interested is better than not doing anything right?”

They all nodded in agreement as they looked towards the shy human, “Well alright, if you don’t mind about it then…” She unzipped her bag and was shuffling through it as she was speaking, “Remember that I’m also part doctor?”

They all looked at each other and nodded in agreement as Twilight spoke, “Well, it makes sense otherwise, how else would you tend to the animals’ injuries?” Fluttershy smiled at that. She may be shy like her namesake, but she’s not without her smarts on how to handle animals. The topic returned when Fluttershy found the item she was looking, “But how does that related to what have in mind?”

“It’s simple really; I was heading for the pharmacy that time to get some medicine for the animals when I heard some news being spread out in the streets. It--” She fell silent for a time as she felt some fresh tears welling up, “Was heart-breaking when I asked the people what the news was all about.” She pulled out a picture of a person from her bag and showed it to her friends. They saw her visibly trying to hold back her tears, “I found out that this person… oh goodness.” She hiccupped as she wiped a few tears away, “I found out that this person died in an accident…”

Many almost seemingly gasped upon hearing this revelation. The person in question was a male with tan skin, brown hair and blue eyes. Guessing from his looks, he was young about eighteen or so at least to everyone’s thoughts. They looked towards Fluttershy who looked heart-broken about the news the most. All six went to comfort their shy friend as she let go of her tears. Rarity was patting her head as she embraced her, “There there darling, I’m sure the community and his parents are all grieving over his loss, right?”

Fluttershy nodded in agreement and although she stopped crying, she was far from over from telling the whole story, “Yes they are, this person, I just found out that his name is Hans… he was well-loved by his family and his friends. He was a piano player; he would join in some music contests and play to his hearts content. Although he won a lot of those contests…”

Rainbow blinked twice just in case she was hearing that wrong, “Wait, he won those music contests just by playing the piano? I hate to be rude Flutters, but I kind of find that hard to believe with an oldie of an instrument like that.” Though this earned a glare from her fellow friends, it did go away with the fact that at least she was being polite about it if somewhat.

Fluttershy on the other hand chuckled from Rainbow’s statement as she wiped a few tears away, “I know Rainbow but even then, he didn’t care that he won those or not. All he cared about was playing the piano for all those he loved. Whether he won or not, it didn’t tamper with his love for playing the piano. I even heard that he once played the piano with a little mix of modern music before.”

Rainbow again blinked twice before smiling a bit from the revelation, “Really? You got his soundtracks or something?”

They all let go of Fluttershy as she went through shuffling her bag, “He did record some of it thank to a few of his friends who played with him. They loved to mix his piano with some of the modern music today for fun.” She picked out a case and opened it to reveal a disk inside it, “These are the songs that combined the piano of his with modern music, I think you might like them Rainbow.”

“Heheh, we’ll see about that!” She pulled her mobile CD player from her bag. She opened up the tray and put the disk inside it, then closed it and hit the play button for everyone else hear it. The disk was turning and for a moment there was only silence. About three seconds in and right as Rainbow was about to say boring, the first song begun to play. The piano started strongly as it played first. Everyone was listening intently and even Rainbow was tapping her leg with her index finger in rhythm to the song. As the song reached a silence, all of looked at Fluttershy, wondering if it ended a bit too quickly. Before long, the piano boomed in volume alongside other sounds that would fit with Vinyl’s DJ booth. It wasn’t long before Rainbow started making an air piano to the song.

Everyone one of them was eagerly smiling at Rainbow who stopped and looked at them, “What? Just because it has an oldie of an instrument playing doesn’t mean it sounds awesome! I have to admit it Fluttershy, this Hans and his friends definitely know how to make the piano rock out hard!” She pressed the stop button and gave the disk back to Fluttershy, “Think you can make a copy of it? You said that he… well you know…” She saw her friend nodded as she took the disk and put it back in the case. She embraced her shy friend, “Thanks so much Flutters!”

“You welcome Rainbow…” Her rainbow haired friend let go of her and she tried to move a bit to get some sense of feeling back. While she put the disk back and made a note to copy some of the songs for Rainbow, she let a sigh as she stopped writing.

Applejack caught on to it and had to ask as to not keep it from overwhelming Fluttershy, “Something else botherin’ ya isn’t there?”

She looked towards the apple farmer then to the fashionista before nodding, “Yes there is something else bothering me and it’s likely only you two would understand… not that the others won’t but only you would for good reasons.”

Both looked at each other somewhat afraid as to why only they would understand what was troubling her. Yet even then, they wanted to know as much as everyone else around her, “Well darling, might tell us then? We won’t be able to know unless you tell us…”

Fluttershy looked at all of them trying to debate with herself on whether to tell them it or not. In the end, it was her friends and they deserved to know, “Alright then, I guess I won’t keep all of you in the dark…” She inhaled once before exhaling as she looked at them, “Remember when I said that he… died of an accident?” They all nodded and waited for her response, “Well, I alongside the community know the cause of his… short-lived life…” Silence dominated their table as other sounds around them were hushed and before long, her answer came forth, “The cause was that of a speeding vehicle but why? It was to save his little sister from that said accident…”

The last sentence echoed towards all of them but its echoes were most present towards Rarity and Applejack. They looked at each other and imagined themselves in that situation. The idea of having to go through that terrified them to the core. Before they could dive any further into their imagination though, Applejack had to ask the one question that bothered them most, “Um… Is Hans’s li’l sis… is she alright?”

Fluttershy looked towards her two friends with little sisters of their own. She can within their eyes that there was a trace of worry despite having not met Hans but the situation shook them. She let a small but sad smile form, “Yes she is, she managed to somewhat avoid her brother’s fate.”

“Somewhat… what do you mean darling?” Both Rarity and Applejack shared each other’s thoughts and wondered what she meant by that.

“She barely managed to avoid it, but… she’s in a coma and recuperating in the hospital. I haven’t seen her personally nor do I have a picture of what she looks like, but I can at least confirm that she suffered a blow to the head.” Fluttershy looked away from the both of them trying to repress her tears again.

While four of her friend came and tried to comfort the shy human, the other two joined much later after thinking about it from their perspective. Again, the idea terrified the both of them but the idea of their younger sibling surviving but them not alive to see their elder siblings again made them feel truly sorry for Hans’s little sister. They then hugged Fluttershy after much thinking in their part. Their shy friend smiled in return as they let go of their embrace, “I’m sorry for ruining a possibly fun time… you all asked and well... I couldn’t deny sharing it with my friends.”

Sunset smiled as she put a hand on her shoulder. Twilight joined in as well as they did not mind, “We all don’t mind, remember, like you said, we asked. There was nothing wrong with telling us about that, right Pinkie?” All turned to their energetic friend who was suspiciously quiet all of a sudden, “Pinkie? Are you alright?”

Twilight stepped forward and poked her a bit trying to get a reaction or something from the party planner. Suddenly, her face was contorting to one of her signature smiles at the last poke. Sunset pulled Twilight away from the shaking human and before long she exploded in a shower of confetti. All six looked at where she originally was before appearing next to Twilight and Sunset screaming, “IDEA!”

“That is my line there Pinkie!” Rarity pouted a bit from someone using her phrase.

“Sorry Rarity, but in this case, the idea is mine!” The fashionista sighed and conceded to Pinkie because she had a point. Pinkie clapped her hands together and somehow made a rainbow above her head with the word imagination etched into it, “Let’s throw another Battle of the Bands only this time without anything from ruining this one because we’re all doing this for fun!”

They all looked at each other wondering whether to accept this before Twilight asked, “Um… what’s a Battle of the Bands?” They all looked at her almost in sync causing her to back up a bit in fear. Pinkie appeared in front of her and put a stack of papers for her to read. She pulled it from her and did with her reading glasses on. She read the whole paper fast enough to continue the conversation, “Oh… that’s the Battle of the Bands? That actually sounds interesting though why in the first place?”

Pinkie continued wearing her signature smile, “Well since everyone has been a bit mopey about Han’s… unfortunate end…” The party human almost lost her vibrant color and her poofy hair before reverting back to her usual giddy self, “I thought, hey, why not do another Battle of the Bands in memory of Hans? Not everyone has to know, just us so we can remember him in kind.”

Everyone looked at each other as they absorbed the knowledge at hand. It wasn’t long before everyone smiled and agreed with the party planner’s idea. Her smile got even bigger hearing everyone’s agreement, “Great, starting whenever you girls are ready, we’ll host it and we can let the fun begin!”

They all raised their hands up high and yelled yes loudly. Applejack was the first to leave but not before saying what she had in mind, “Ah’ll get the food ready for the Battle of the Bands!”

Fluttershy came up second, “I’ll clean up our instruments for the event today!” She left with her bag and left for the music room.

“I’m coming with! I want my instrument to shine today!” Rainbow followed her friend to the music room giddy about the event.

“I shall get our costumes ready! I’ve wanted to spruce them up anyhow in the first place!” She left and almost forgot her bag until she returned and picked it up and then final leave.

Pinkie grabbed both Sunset and Twilight’s hands and looked at them with joy, “And you’ll help me in making posters for this event!” Before they got the chance to argue back, they were whisked away towards wherever she goes to make them. Today was going to be a busy day for all of them.

The Spirit and Little Girl Shines

The Spirit and Little Girl Shines

Twilight was at the registration table where a slew of people were waiting in line to join in the Battle of the Bands. She knew that this event would bring in people from all around the city block but she didn’t expect this many to sign up! She was at least lucky to have a helping hand in the form of her Shadowbolt friends. They sneaked away from Cinch’s radar and went towards Canterlot High School to enjoy and watch the festivities. It made the former recluse happy to see them again, “Thanks for coming by you five, but are you sure this is such a good idea?”

Indigo let out a ppssshh sound as she listed the talents of the next musician that came forward, “No worries egghead, we wouldn’t miss a chance to watch the Battle of the Bands with you! I wouldn’t give two damns about Principal Cinch preventing us from coming here! Right girls?”

They all simultaneously said Yeah! as they continued to assist. Twilight had to smile again. Despite the rocky head start with the Shadowbolts, she had truly thought of them as friends now besides the other six that took her in. A tapping sound form the table bought her back into reality as she looked in front of the table to find… no one there, “Hello? Who tapped on the table?”

Lemon Zest looked at the front of the table and lowered her headsets immediately, a sign that the Shadowbolts knew was her either being serious or something surprised her, “Um, you might want to look again except over the table girls.”

Both pushed their chairs away and looked above in front of the table to find… a little girl draped in white smiling at them as she waved at us. Twilight being flabbergasted would hardly describe the level of her shock she was under. She looked ahead and while some did share her surprise, they shrugged and smiled seeing that a little girl wanted to participate. It took Sour Sweet’s words to snap them back into reality, “Oh my, we have a young girl who wishes to try out?”

“Apparently we do…” Indigo was rubbing her eyes trying to be certain that she wasn’t just imagining this in front of her. She looked towards Twilight who was cleaning her glasses with a tissue and then put them on again while still wearing a shocked expression. She can tell that her thoughts matched her own as she returned her attention to the little girl. She was still smiling as she tapped on the paper on the table, “You want to sign up? Not to be mean but do you have a guardian with you or something?” She nodded and turned around as she gestured towards someone to come out. All of them looked ahead wondering who her guardian was as they waited. Nothing at first appeared in front of them causing Indigo to raise an eyebrow, “Look kid if this is a...”

She got cut off by Lemon as she elbowed her hard. She was clutching her side and mouthed a what when she looked in front of her again. All of them including the citizens were somewhat caught off guard when a black spirit wearing a tuxedo appeared next to the girl. With no mouth but white spots that likely represented its eyes, it waved at the Shadowbolts. It was gentle enough to show up but the appearance threw them off a bit even after what they all saw and went through during the Friendship Games. It took them awhile to take this in, “Uh… right, welcome I guess? Um…” Twilight and Indigo were at a loss of words on how to proceed.

Luckily, their compatriot Sour Sweet managed to do it for the both of them, “Why hello there young girl? I presume that you wish to sign with… what is your name per chance?” The little girl grabbed the paper and wrote the name of the both of them. As she finished, Sour Sweet picked up the paper and read it, “Alice and this black spirit goes by the name of Deemo hmm? What a lovely name for the both of you. Oh you play the piano? I’ve never seen one of these musicians in a long while.”

She looked towards them with a smile. Alice smiled in return as she grabbed Deemo’s hand. Lemon came forward and kneeled to the little girl’s eye level, “Here let me show you two the way alright? I hope you two can rock out with the piano ‘kay?” Alice nodded and the both of them followed her to the gym.

Both Indigo and Twilight blinked twice just to be sure that they didn’t dream what they saw, “What just happened?” The athletic human looked towards their compatriot.

Sour Sweet could only shrug, “While you two were staring into space, I had to take over and help her out. You realize that we’ve seen a lot of crazy things right?” Indigo was rather silent but nodded in agreement with her Shadowbolt member.

Twilight first removed her glasses, rubbed her eyes and cleaned her glasses again before putting them back on, “Hey Sour, think you can take over for me for now? I need to tell the other six about this.” She simply nodded as Twilight left the chair and Sour sat in it as registration continued like normal. The lavender human looked at the two being escorted once before focusing on telling the news about this new musician.

Meanwhile back at the big stage, Pinkie’s body was shuddering like crazy. Everybody noticed it and almost freaked out that her Pinkie Sense was kicking in. The party human stopped shuddering and gave a big smile, “Woah, I’ve never had that happen before! That must mean that what happens during the contest is going to be a doozy!”

Despite them knowing that being skeptical of her would be silly, they couldn’t help but question what she just said, “Durin’ the contest? Ya sure ‘bout that Sugarcube, couldn’t the doozy happen durin’ the auditions?”

“I must agree with Applejack here, are you sure that this said doozy will happen specifically during the contest darling?” They saw their energetic friend shaking her head before seemingly dashing out of the stage leaving a dust form where she originally stood.

Everyone looked at each other wondering what the doozy would be in question. They looked to where Pinkie went to see her carrying Twilight on her back running really fast. Twilight was holding on tightly and panicking apparently if her screaming for Pinkie to stop meant anything. The party human suddenly stopped all movement without even skidding on the ground and was rocking back and forth. Twilight let go and was trying to get some feeling back as she was a little trippy, “Goodness Pinkie, remind me next time when you do that please.”

“Oki doki!” She said before she disappeared to assist with setting the gym up for auditions. Twilight stumbled a bit trying to regain her footing. Sunset helped her friend out as the others came by as they finished the last few touches of the big stage. The lavender human smiled and was about to them why she was here before she was cut off by Pinkie, “Girls, everyone is waiting on us for the auditions here!”

Twilight blinked twice just to be certain she heard that right, “You sure? We still have a line waiting outside Pinkie.” She pointed towards the registration table to prove that there was still a line of people getting ready to register for the Battle of the Bands.

“I know silly, but the people who already registered are getting a bit bored waiting! And besides! There’s someone here you all should see! They’re anxious to get started for us!” She still wore her big smile as she gestured them to come inside and zipped away. Though Twilight knew who she was referring to, the others looked at each other in confusion wondering who this duo was that wanted to show them their musical talent. They decided to not prolong this any longer anyway as they have finished prepping up the big stage and followed Pinkie.

Through the hallway leading to the gymnasium, there were a lot of people who registered as they waved towards them and said their hellos. The six were a bit surprised to see a lot of people that signed up yet they couldn’t help but smile back and waved in return seeing all the contestants in mind. Pinkie was at the double doors bouncing and gesturing them to enter. They followed her inside to meet their first musician playing on the stage. To the five’s surprise, which was performing first was on the table smiling at them. Applejack couldn’t help but bring the absurdity here, “What in tarnation? Our first musician that’s being auditioned is a little girl?”

Twilight coughed gathering the attention of the five sans Pinkie who was getting along with the little girl fine, “That’s what I wanted to tell you at first but there is someone or something with her…” They all were baffled as to what Twilight meant. They turned around and again were shocked when a black spirit was sitting on the table watching the little girl and Pinkie playing around with each other. It noticed them and waved towards them. Twilight stepped pass the still shocked five as she raised an arm to them, “Everyone, meet Alice and Deemo, the first musicians to perform and be judged by you.”

Rainbow rubbed her eyes trying to be certain that she was not seeing what she was seeing. Upon opening her eyes again, they were still there and she summed up what was in everyone’s mind, “Well, this just got interesting…”

“Eeyup…” was all Applejack could say. Everybody else just nodded in agreement as only the sounds of joy coming from both Pinkie and Alice broke the silence.

Fluttershy was the first to recover from the state of surprise. She stepped forward and greeted Alice and Deemo, “Hello you two… how goes your day?” The black spirit looked at her, showing no signs of any emotion in his eyes. It made the shy human shrink back a bit. Deemo extended an arm and waited for Fluttershy’s response. She noticed the gesture and grabbed the hand and shook it.

She ended up smiling in return as the black spirit let go. Someone was tugging on her skirt during the whole gesture of friendship. She looked down to see the little girl doing it. Alice noticed that she caught her attention and flashed a smile. Fluttershy kneeled to her eyes smiling in return, “Hello there Alice, did you wish to tell me something?” The little girl nodded and gestured her to come closer. Fluttershy responded and Alice whispered. Her eyes slowly widened a bit as she was continued to listen. After she heard what she whispered, she looked at her again before smiling and hugging her in return, “You’re a wonderful child Alice but I don’t think that could happen.” She still wore her smile but understood her enough.

It wasn’t long before the others were out of their trance and greeted both Deemo and Alice. Before they begun greeting however, Rainbow was curious about what the little girl whispered to Fluttershy, “Hey Flutters, what did Alice whispered to you?”

Her old friend looked towards her with a smile, “Oh she said something very nice to me…” Rainbow raised an eyebrow in confusion about it. Fluttershy could only chuckle as she gestured her friend to come nearby.

Rainbow came nearby and turned her ear. Fluttershy whispered the exact words the little girl said to her. Suddenly, the cyan human’s face was slowly beginning to get red from what she was hearing. Her eyes darted towards Alice who noticed her looking at her and only smiled and waved at her. She swears that the girl was laughing silently at her blushing face. As soon as she was done, Rainbow backed away a bit trying to process what the little girl said, “Wait… she really said that?”

Fluttershy could only nod while poking her two index fingers together, “Apparently she thinks so too for some odd reasons, you don’t mind that it’s from a young child right?” She looked at her friend whose face still had traces of red lingering on her face, “Rainbow, are you alright?”

Her words snapped Rainbow out of her stammering as she looked at Fluttershy, “Oh me? Nah I’m fine, I don’t mind that it’s coming from a little girl like her! Nope, not a single problem at all!” She chuckled weakly trying to stop talking about it. Her friend looked confused but decided to not press the subject any further. Rainbow let out a sigh of relief at managing to avoid prolonging the topic. She looked towards Alice who was playing with Pinkie, “That little girl, I swear she’s on to me…” She decided to ignore it for now and greet them anyway.

Many times there was some laughter during the greetings as a result of Pinkie being silly. Sans Deemo, everyone chuckled over her antics with Alice playing with her. It wasn’t long before Sunset stepped up as the last of the greetings, “Hey there Deemo. So… you’re signing up with Alice huh?” The black spirit nodded just as Alice returned to his side. Sunset smiled seeing these two together. She did wonder what instrument they chose to play, “Hey does anybody know what these two are playing? No offense to you two.” They shrugged and let them check the paper.

Rarity was holding the paper in hand finding their registration. As she finds it, she tried to find where they registered. She finds it and sees their chosen instrument for the audition, “Oh my… these two want to play the piano.”

“Piano ya say?” Applejack wasn’t so sure why but that set some red flags in her head especially after two weeks ago when Fluttershy bought up why they were doing this in the first place. She looked at the two seeing if there was any sign of trouble. The little girl she can understand not being able to find because she was innocent and wanted to have some fun. The black spirit on the other hand, having only eyes that seemed to show no emotion, was hard to tell if he was hiding something. Even looking at anything like fingers or so and he was not showing a sign of nervousness. The apple farmer sighed seeing that she was being too naïve, “Okay, s’ we got somebody here that plays an oldie here. Ah’m a bit interested.”

“As am I darling… shall we get this started then? We don’t want to keep the others waiting right?” They all nodded as they sat on the chairs. Pinkie had already bought a piano for them luckily so it was only a matter of them preparing. Twilight closed the blinds on the windows and the doors so that only they can see the performance, “Whenever you are ready you two! Show us and excel what you can do with the piano darlings!”

Both nodded as they pressed a few keys to see if the piano was working right. Sunset watched as the little girl got a book and gave it to the back spirit. She couldn’t help but have the feeling that something extravagant was going to happen what with there being a spirit. Deemo was flipping through the pages trying to find the first song to play while Alice sat waiting. The page flips stopped and he looked towards the little girl who smiled as she got off the piano and looked at them once before lowering her head.

All of them were waiting in anticipation as to what was going to happen. The black spirit began playing the song in mind as the first key was hit. The next set of keys played and as they did, the seven felt something only they recognized as the song continued causing them to look at each other in shock when they felt it, magic. Their eyes widened as the stage begun to drastically change to fit with the song being played.

Alice raised her head high as the song hit at its fastest. Crystals begun to form around her and the stage as she raised her two arms high. Deemo was playing fast as he can as the stage had fully developed a new look. Pillars rise surrounding the whole gymnasium darkening the place. The seven stood up from their chairs trying to find out where they are. As soon as light came, what was once the gymnasium was now another dimension as the stage was made with a single piano with stairs that lead towards it. All of them were shocked that these two were capable of doing feats like this despite the fact that they were expecting it to come when the contestants were a little girl and a spirit.

There were six pillar total as what were presumed to be angels were singing with the piano. Deemo was playing the piano at a speed that could almost seemingly rival Rainbow’s when she was running. Alice’s clothes now were just a single white dress that dragged behind her. She raised her two arms towards her heart as both hands glowed white in front of her heart and kneeled like she was praying. Deemo continued to play the piano fast as he ascended in the keys before descending down and stopping for a moment.

The little girl stood up as the crystals around her took shape into a heart behind her. She opened her eyes and looked at the seven who were still watching this in awe. She smiled as the piano sped up and she raised her arms up as crystals formed around her and the stage. The crystals detached themselves from the ground and surrounded her as she waved her arms around. Jumping on the crystals that followed her arms, she moved them towards the backstage where Deemo was playing the piano. She jumped off and slowly descended before landing on the piano as the purple gems circled around her.

Her right hand, still glowing white, pointed at the crystal heart. The crystals responded and carried the heart and placed it behind her and Deemo. The black spirit was playing fast again as the choir was singing again. The pillars were lowering themselves as the angels stayed afloat with their wings spread and cupping their hands over their hearts. As the climax of the song was nearing, Alice poured the last bit of effort into finishing the performance. The same applied to Deemo as he was finishing playing the song.

The young child raised her two hands to the air as the crystals followed. She moved her arm in a circular pattern towards the seven and they responded. They watched as the crystals flew over them and behind them as seven hearts were made. Each one of them was etched with their cutie marks of their pony selves. They turned around to see Alice smiling as the song was reaching its resolution. She kneeled as Deemo was hitting the final notes of the song. A bright light alongside loud and powerful voices emitted as the black spirit hit the final note.

The seven humans covered their eyes as the light illuminated the whole dimension. As the light dimmed down, they lowered their arms to see themselves back in the gymnasium. Their attention was back at the two on the stage. They both stood and were waiting for their judgment. Despite Alice and Deemo being patient, the seven of them were at a loss of words on how to respond to what they saw. It took Rainbow breaking their silence with some stuttering, “I… what… er… well… um… oh sweet Celestia, what did I just witness?”

Pinkie’s mouth was drooping as she was caught off by it. Rarity closed her mouth for her while she got the chance to say next, “Well if I must sum up what I saw, it was…” She let the silence come before her eyes went starry at what she witnessed, “Absolutely gorgeous!” She put a hand on her head and let herself faint while a couch bought in by Fluttershy, comforted her fall.

Fluttershy smiled having expected that in time and bought the couch just in case, “Good thing I had in mind… and I have to agree, that was wonderful. The music, the performance, it was extravagant. Who knew you had it in you?” She saw Alice smiled as she hugged Deemo. The black spirit rubs her head gently. They looked towards the other three who were still silent. Fluttershy poked their back before asking them, “Um, should you be judging them now?”

That bought them out of their reverie as they shook their heads wildly trying to get what they saw out of their minds for now. Applejack was the first to speak but not before she whistled, “Ah got t’ admit, fer an instrument Ah haven’t seen played in a long while, Ah love the song in mind. Say what the name o’ the song ya two played is called?” Alice gestured the apple farmer to come. She responded and as she drew near, the little girl whispered the name of the song. Applejack looked at her in confusion, “Anima? What kind o’ name does that mean?”

That bought Twilight out as she told what anima means, “Anima, it’s a Latin word meaning soul Applejack.” She stopped herself and pondered until something his about the song, “That’s an interesting name for the song in mind considering the heart motif the song shares.”

“Ya don’t say? Well Ah like it! Maybe ya two should try playin’ that piano with some good old country music, how’s that?” The little girl smiled and nodded to her question. That bought a smile upon the apple farmer, “Well ain’t that swell! This day just got a whole lot better fer me!”

She returned back, satisfied about the performance and song. Pinkie came afterwards wearing the biggest smile she could make, “That was awesome! While that wasn’t the doozy, it was amazing!”

Sunset literally looked at her party human friend in shock about that revelation, “How was that not the doozy?! I mean I know you said that it would happen during the contest but how was that…” She pointed at the two who were looking at her in confusion, “Not a doozy?! They used magic there! And here I thought we were the only ones capable to using it, well until Twilight came.”

Twilight looked at her about to discuss about it but Pinkie cut her off as she chuckled hearing her friend’s response, “Because silly, I know the doozy is going to happen during the contest. What it is though, I don’t know!”

That made the lavender human switch topics quickly as she looked towards Pinkie, “How can you not know what the doozy is or when it even occurs in the first place? I know not to question but still!”

“Duh, because my Pinkie Sense never lies! Silly!” Pinkie answered in the silliest and most seemingly impossible way ever conceived by even Pinkie standards.

Twilight looked towards the apple farmer who just shrugged while answering her question, “It’s true, her Pinkie Sense never lies... at all. Ah’ve never seen one thing that it can’t seem t’ not foresee ahead o’ time Twi.”

Sunset could only chuckle as Twilight facepalmed deciding it was best to not even ask any further. She returned her attention back to the two who were waiting for her words. She let a smile form, “Well, I think everyone else can agree that you two played a wonderful song. I think I’ll focus on how you did it later. I hope you can impress us again!”

Alice smiled as she bowed towards them. She grabbed Deemo’s hand and both left the gymnasium allowing others to participate now. Sunset still couldn’t shake something odd about them but then again, they all have seen crazier so she decided to focus on it later. The others nodded as a surge of musicians came forward. Today for all them may take awhile before the actual contest can begin.

A Curious Mystery

A Curious Mystery

During the auditions, Sunset couldn’t help but wonder about those two in question. The way they did all their theatrics with such beauty made her awe them yet at the same time she couldn’t help but question how they were able to do something like so. Playing the piano and being amazing at it, that’s passable and in the realm of possibility, but being able to do send them to another dimension and perform feats that could only be done with magic? That made her question just who or what, in Deemo’s case, were they? She planned on writing a message to the pony Twilight in the hopes that she could answer it soon but right now, her focus was on the rest of the auditions with the rest of the attending musicians.

Meanwhile with the two, they were walking around the school grounds taking in the sight. Many of the students waved at them prompting Alice to wave at them in return with a smile. One of the musicians came forward personally to greet her, “Hello there, you must be Deemo I presume?” Deemo looked forward to see a cellist speaking with her. He simply nodded prompting a smile from the cellist, “That’s good to hear, Octavia Melody at your service.” She extended a hand gesturing one of them to grab it.

Alice did it for her as she grabbed it and shook it gently. This pleased Octavia as she knelled to her height, “My, such a young girl with quite a nice fellow. I hope you two are getting along well?” She nodded and smiled in return. The cellist stood back up looking towards Deemo, “You remind me of a friend of mine that’s also a musician. Somewhat silent but very caring, I wonder what’s taking her so long? I hope she isn’t bringing that thing from the last Battle of the Bands, goodness did that surprise me…”

A few taps on her shoulder caught her attention prompting her to turn around. Octavia smiled as she was looking at the familiar glasses of her friend, “Vinyl… It’s good to see you though… what took you so long to get here?” Her thumb pointed towards the direction of the parking lot where said contraption was and the cellist suddenly understood quickly, “Ah, that contraption of yours? Needed a bit of repairing or something?” She nodded as she quickly adjusted her glasses.

Vinyl looked towards the two in question and waved at them, “Hey there! I remembered seeing you two at the reception table, boy did you surprise everyone! Not that this isn’t normal for us now but still, you managed to get them real good!” She fixed her glasses and put only one of her earplugs as she pulled out a portable CD as she was introducing herself, “As Octavia mentioned, the name’s Vinyl or if you like to call me by my title which some people here do, DJ Pon3. It’s a pleasure to meet ya!” She extended a hand which was promptly grabbed by Alice. They both shook each other’s hands before letting go. Vinyl could only chuckle seeing how energetic the little girl was, “Boy, you sure are really excited about this aren’t you?” A simple nod from Alice confirmed her question.

Octavia was mostly silent as the introductions were going but she couldn’t help but dramatize a bit from how her friend was introducing herself, “Vinyl, being not her usual bombastic self when introducing to a person? What has this world come too?” The words manage to get a chuckle out of the DJ and Alice. She too chuckled as well and it was not long before they all joined in each other’s laughter. Their laughter slowly died down as Octavia spoke, “Haha that was a good laugh. But in all honesty, I am excited about this as you are. I just hope that it doesn’t get ruined again…”

That made Vinyl somewhat frown but also cheery when she mentioned it. They both noticed that the little girl tilted her head slightly and Deemo stroked his chin. It took them awhile to realize that they were not a part of the last Battle of the Bands and were confused. Vinyl decided to speak about it since she had a part in it, “Oh right, you two weren’t in the last one. Well, let’s just say that things got a bit hectic after three people called the Sirens came around. That last one was not only quite a doozy but was almost like the last two catastrophes where the fate of the world was in the hands of those six girls you saw. Trust me, this sounds weird but I’m telling the truth.”

Both Alice and Deemo looked at each other wondering if they shared the same thoughts. It was not long before they both nodded. The little girl gestured Octavia prompting her to lower herself, “Yes, what is it Alice?” She then whispered her question to the cellist. Octavia looked at Alice in understanding before looking towards her DJ friend, “They want to know everything about what happened at the last Battle of the Bands Vinyl.”

That prompted a smile from her as she lowered herself to her height, “I can definitely tell you how it went! But let’s do it in the library, best I tell you about it in a quiet place you know?” Alice simply nodded as they followed both Octavia and Vinyl to the library. While walking there, Vinyl thought it might be a good time to start reminiscing about the last Battle of the Bands, “Well, since we’re heading there, might as well get started! So it all started after the last world disaster…”

While Vinyl was retelling the story on the way, the last musician finished his performance. After Sunset and company delivered their judgment and he departed, she pulled out the journal and a pen. Just as she was about to write, a voice stopped her from writing at the moment, “Sunset? Is there something troubling you darling?”

She looked towards Rarity who was showing concern. The others mimicked her concern as well. Sunset felt a sigh escape though a smile ended up forming regardless, “Nothing really… It’s just… I can’t shake off what we saw when Alice and… um…” Sunset was mentally slapping herself for forgetting the black spirit’s name.

Thankfully, Pinkie refreshed her memory in her usual fashion, “It’s Deemo silly goose! How could you forget about his name?” The jubilant party planner though suddenly shifted to a tone that caught Sunset off guard. The tone almost sounded serious and yet had that melancholic ring that sounded unnatural for Pinkie. It made her Sunset for her, “It’s something involving their theatrics though, am I right or am I wrong?”

Sunset had to shake her head a bit from the sudden shift in tone from Pinkie’s voice. She managed to recover a bit though was still a bit shaken as she spoke, “Was it that noticeable?” All she saw was Pinkie happily shaking her head as she returned back to her bubbly self. Sunset wondered what the tone was all about though decided to question it later for now. With everyone else knowing why she was writing to Twilight, she had to finish where she left off, “Yeah, like Pinkie said, I just can’t write off what did when they debuted. I can see them being wonderful at the piano and mind you, that was some good piano playing…” Sunset felt a smile forming upon mentioning them playing the piano.

Hearing the song being played, she was simply awed at the wonderful melody. The idea of having to face them personally made her excited. And she wasn’t the only one too as Rainbow’s expression and her clear excitement showed, “I won’t lie, I may not be a good piano player but I know when I see someone that can definitely put up quite a show! And she sure did! I mean all those theatrics? It makes me giddy playing my electric guitar against them!”

Rarity joined in the conversation as well, “Not only that, but that little girl wore probably the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen in my life! If going against them in a music battle doesn’t excite me, then me having to ask where she gets those kinds of dresses will!”

Applejack looked at the fashionista in bafflement, “Really Rarity? Ah’m all excited like Rainbow is in competin’ against them but yer more excited fer that one time dress she wore?” A simple yet ecstatic nod was answer. She couldn’t help but lower her Stetson and chuckle a bit, “Sheesh, even in somethin’ like an awesome music battle, ya’d still think ‘bout fashion anyway.” She didn’t see Rarity’s expression but Applejack can tell that she was not pleased. She raised her hat again, this time looking at Sunset whose expression changed, “But Ah digress, yer still wonderin’ ‘bout their theatrics as ya put it huh?”

Though her smile was still there, her expression c also had traces of confusion, “Yeah… I’m all excited about going against them still but I can’t shake them being able to do all those theatrics… That’s why I want to ask Twilight and see if she could find out about this. If it is magic, then I’m wondering if and where they came and got it from. If it isn’t, which I doubt so, then I’m not so sure about how to handle that.”

Rainbow pulled a chair up and placed her feet on it as her arms rested on her leg, “No sweat Sunset, we know that you’d have a hard time focusing when something that’s bothering ya gets in your mind!” The others were looking at her with mixed emotions. She just looked at them in confusion as she raised an eyebrow, “What? She’s like Twilight! You can’t deny that right?”

They all looked at each other before they chuckled and nodded in agreement. Sunset found the comparison to be a bit funny though she did wonder if Rainbow was comparing her to the pony Twilight or the human Twilight. She decided to not wonder about the comparison as she was more concerned with writing the entry, “Thanks girls, I really appreciate it…” Just as she raised her pen though, she looked around and notice something off, “Say… Where’s Fluttershy?” Everybody looked around and suddenly, they wondered as well. Unbeknownst to them, Pinkie knew where she decided to go but kept up the act for now.

Fluttershy was secretly leaving for the library after the auditions was over but Pinkie caught her before she could depart. To her surprise and gladness, Pinkie allowed her to depart as she gestured her mouth being zipped. Fluttershy silently thanked her as she departed. She was almost at the location when she heard a conversation going on inside the library, “Oh my… someone’s already there. I shouldn’t disturb them…” Just as she was about to leave, the door suddenly opened causing her to jump in surprise.

She looked and let out a sigh of relief when she saw Octavia there, “Oh Fluttershy! What bring you here of all places? Are the auditions over already?”

She fixed her hair as she spoke with the cellist, “Y-Yes… the auditions are over… I uh… came here just to read a book about animals for now.” She looked towards Octavia who was all but smiling. She ended up smiling as well though something made her wonder, “Um… So… what are you doing here Octavia? I thought you were going to practice with your cello or at least, with Vinyl while we were busy with the auditions and all that.”

The cellist could only chuckle as she opened the door fully, “We were… until a certain pair decided to ask Vinyl to retell what happened during the last Battle of the Bands. I only stayed with her because I thought it would be okay. At least I was able to entertain myself by reading books while she was telling her side of the story.”

“A… certain pair?” Fluttershy looked inside the library and found herself a bit surprised when she saw the first musicians to have auditioned listening to the story. The sight of the little girl moving her legs back and forth while intently listening to the story caused her to smile.

Vinyl was, as Octavia said, recounting the events from the last Battle of the Bands. What she said next, Fluttershy knew where she was at the time, “And then those seven girls rose to the air and made this big phoenix that shot a laser at the Sirens! Let me tell you, the sight of that never ceases to amaze me! I even have a picture of it saved on my phone!” She pulled out her phone and showed said picture of it towards the two. Alice was awed by the sight of it and although Deemo couldn’t show any sign of emotion, he too was amazed. The DJ continued to speak as they were admiring it, “I know right? Those girls can be so amazing sometimes!” She looked towards the library door and saw Fluttershy. That made her smile bigger as she raised an arm towards her, “And there’s one of the girls right now! Hey there Fluttershy!”

The both of them looked towards her and waved. Fluttershy returned the gesture as she stepped inside the library, “Hi Vinyl… I heard that you were telling them about the last Battle of the Bands. Why though is the question…”

The DJ still wore her smile as she put her phone back in her pocket, “Well isn’t it obvious?” She was waiting for Fluttershy’s answer and was relatively surprised when she shook her head, “Really? Well, I guess it’s obvious to Pinkie no doubt but I’ll get to the point…” She pointed a thumb towards the pair as she answered, “Did you ever see these two during the last one?”

Fluttershy looked towards Alice and Deemo, still a bit confused about her question, “No I… haven’t.” She suddenly connected the dots as she looked towards Vinyl, “You mean…?”

The DJ was still smiling as she spoke, “Now you got it Flutters! Yeah, these two weren’t around during that crazy moment so they had asked me and Octavia to recall the events. Octavia said most of the events for me while I had a say during the final moments. I’d say you arrived just in time as I was finishing it up.”

Fluttershy smiled as she looked towards the pair, “Oh… well, how was the story?” A simple smile from Alice was all she needed as she can tell the little girl clearly enjoyed it. Deemo on the other hand baffled her a bit as it was hard to tell if he enjoyed it or not. A nod was her answer though and while he was still hard to read emotionally, at least he enjoyed the story, “That’s great…!”

Octavia smiled as she finished reading up on another book. Putting it back on the shelf, she stood up from the chair and looked towards Vinyl, “I think it’s time we start practicing for the contest Vinyl. Don’t want to forget about that right?”

Vinyl snapped her fingers as she stood up from the chair, “Oh right! I almost forgot about that!” She looked towards Fluttershy as she was packing up, “Well, Flutters, looks like you get this all to yourself with the pair. Stay sharp!”

“Wait! Don’t…!” But it was already too late as they left to practice for the contest, “Oh dear…” She looked towards the two of them and while her smile was still there, she was a bit nervous on how to handle this. She saw Alice gesturing her to come nearby as she pulled out a seat for her. The sight made her almost forget her fears as she sat down, “T-thank you Alice… I… really appreciate it.” She smiled as she looked towards Deemo. The black spirit nodded and both looked towards Fluttershy awaiting a response.

It took a while for her to pick that they were waiting on her, “Oh um… you’re wondering if I have a question of my own?” They both nodded. She looked away a bit while she was speaking, “I… really don’t have a…” She suddenly stopped her statement as an idea came to mind. Under certain circumstances, she would be too afraid to ask about anything but since these two are generous when they first debuted, she felt like perhaps it would be a good time to do so, “Actually… I do… have a question.” She looked towards the pair as she raised and placed her arms on the table, “How… did you learn about the present Battle of the Bands? That and… I’d like to know on what you do… if that’s okay with you?” They both nodded prompting Fluttershy to smile, “Thank you… so… how?”

A Piano in Tune

A Piano in Tune

One Week Ago

Within a vast dimension where nature seemingly grew freely with the stone carved from the rocks resides a black being simply known as Deemo. Sitting next to him on the piano, a little girl was watching him play the piano. Draped in a white dress and gray pants with black shoes and brown hair, she came to this world from a single window on the ceiling. She fell onto Deemo’s arms in the main room, where the black being would play on the grand piano.

Ever since that meeting with the two of them, they have gotten to know each other enough despite no words being spoken. The little girl would laugh, play with Deemo on the piano, cook, watch the sunset, read in the library, all the many things she could do with Deemo. They were friends seemingly forever until the end of time.

During playing through one of Deemo’s songs, a piece of paper descended from the same window the little girl fell through. The little girl noticed and tapped at the black being’s shoulder. Deemo looked at her who was pointing above his head. Just as he looked up, said paper landed on his face. The little girl chuckled seeing the silliness of that. She grabbed the paper for Deemo.

Surprisingly to the little girl, the paper suggested something of a contest of sorts between musicians from around a little school called Canterlot High School. She gave it to Deemo with a smile that simply asked Can we go there and attend?

The black being looked at the young girl. His eyes despite not showing any emotion were concerned with her going outside the castle grounds. For a moment he was thinking of denying for her safety and the expression shown on the little girl’s face was beginning to change to one of sadness. He put a hand on her head and rubbed it gently. The girl took it as a yes as she grabbed Deemo’s hand with her hands and smiled. Deemo grabbed her and put down from the piano.

The little girl held onto Deemo’s hand as they walked towards the library. Passing through the single growing tree, they ascended up some stairs from the library carefully watching their steps. As they ascended, the light was beginning to get brighter and was encompassing the upper levels of the castle. At the top of the stairwell was a room with a few windows. The little girl had never been in this room before. She looked towards Deemo, a bit nervous about stepping outside. The black being put his hand on her head reassuring her that nothing will go wrong.

As they stepped closer to the door, the light was illuminating the whole room. The feeling when the little girl stepped to the light was nostalgic for odd reasons. The lukewarm feeling of it made her troubles seemingly past and she felt serene. They took a few steps towards the door as the outside awaited them. Deemo grabbed the doorknob and begun to slowly turn it. As he opened it, the light was at its brightest blinding the little girl for a moment.

The light slowly dimmed down for the both of them and as she looked, her eyes widened with awe. She was looking at what could be a city where the school that was holding the contest was. She stepped forward and with a smile, was looking at the scene in front of her with awe. She turned around to see Deemo stepping outside with her. He grabbed her and putted her on his shoulder. She smiled as the both of them went towards the city.

Walking through the city, the little girl was in awe watching the city glimmer with the numerous lights that beckoned her attention. Many of the people who saw the two walking through eyed them with a sense of curiosity. Ever since the Friendship Games and the Battle of the Bands, the citizens of Canterlot had begun to take weird things they see for granted and a little girl on the shoulder of a black being didn’t bother them much comparing to when the first signs of craziness happened.

Some actually waved at them saying hello to the two. The little girl saw the people waving at them each wearing a smile. She let a smile form as she waved at each one of them. Deemo in question looked at each one of them a bit surprised by the kindness of them saying hello. His heart was feeling a bit elated that the people here were kind to them despite them being out of place. He waved to them as well when the little girl started.

Both looked on ahead to see the school where the contest was being held ahead. They continued to walk to their destination as well as others. They can only make a guess that they wanted to participate in the contest as well. They looked at each other once seeing that there will be competition. She could smile still as she pointed towards the school still.

Deemo saw that she was not going to back down and yet wanted to enjoy herself with the contest at hand. The black being resigned himself and walked with the little girl as they followed the crowd of people heading towards the school.

==========

Meanwhile with the Rainbooms, all of them were preparing for the Battle of the Bands. All seven were smiling seeing the stage being used once again as Pinkie quoted, “I can’t believe we’re going to do this again! This time it’s going to be epic!”

All six were chuckling seeing the party human being ever so excited for the contest at hand. Ever since the Sirens came and somewhat ruined the contest, things haven’t gotten better for them. Then the Friendship Games came and well, everybody here knew what happened there. Despite all that was thrown at them, they managed to live through it all. The idea of retrying the Battle of the Bands came to Sunset Shimmer and many approved of such an idea, “Thanks for doing all of this for me girls, I really appreciate it.”

Rarity waved a dismissive hand as she smiled while attending to the decorations, “Oh don’t be darling! This was such a good idea in the first place, at least this time; we’ll all be doing this for…” She pointed a thumb at Pinkie who was prepping the confetti cannons up on the stage. She let a smile for as she knew what the nest word was coming out of the fashionista’s mouth, “Fun!”

She hopped off the stage quickly as the confetti cannons fired away just as Rarity said the word. All of them had to admit that the timing was rather impeccable. Applejack lowered her Stetson wiping off some of the sweat that built up on her forehead, “Woowee, this is a lot o’ work t’ go through. Thank goodness the student body is helping all o’ us.”

Just as she said that, Rainbow came forward with a box of streamers in hand. She lowered herself and stretched her back, “You telling me Applejack! I never thought to get all of this done without the whole school helping us out!”

“Thank Principal Celestia and Luna for that, even then, without them bringing it up for us, everyone wants to help.” Sunset had to let a smile form upon saying that. It was rather nice to have the students like her instead of what happened when she was well… She didn’t wish to think about it for now rather focusing on the task at hand. She went to carry the box of streamers that Rainbow lowered and carried it to Rarity and Pinkie.

Twilight (well the human Twilight at least) came forward with a paper in hand, “Well I got to checking out people that are planning to attend and so far we have a lot of them wanting to participate against you six.” She put her glasses back into position as she looked at the stage being used, “Wow, that’s a lot of work to go through…”

Applejack could only let a smile form, “Eeyup, but this is nothing comparin’ t’ work back at the farm…”She turned around to see Fluttershy getting her instrument, “Hey Fluttershy, how goes our instruments?”

She looked at all six of them gathered in one place with a smile, “Oh they’re looking as fresh as ever, I managed to clean them up for the most part and getting them set up for the Battle of the Bands at hand.”

Rainbow was carrying another set of boxes with more decoration, “Thanks Flutters! I can’t wait to rock out hard!” Her expression suddenly shifted from excitement to loathing as she focused her attention to Rarity, “How many of these are there Rarity? You know that this is a contest not a ball right?”

She only let a shrug form as lowered herself from the ladder, “I know darling, and while I still want to make this look a bit better, most of it is for Pinkie to use, not me.”

Just as she said that Pinkie emerged from one of the boxes much to the confusion of them, “Yepperoni, I’ll be taking these with me! Thanks Rainbow!” She did exactly that and took the boxes from her and zoomed away to the stage.

All of them could only stare at her in confusion. Twilight fixed her glasses again before speaking out for them, “Well if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going back to the reception table…” She left them and returned back. The others shook off the confusion and went back to getting the stage ready. Tomorrow was going to be the big night where musicians of all kinds get to face off each other.